The present invention relates to an electrically controlled electro-optical switch using radiation coupling between two optical guides.
It is known to make an integrated electro-optical switch in a substrate, on the surface of which are formed two guided propagation zones aligned parallel to one another and associated with electrodes making it possible to produce electrical fields in the guides which modify the propagation velocities. Incident radiation in one of the guides can be transferred to the other in a percentage between 0 and 100, depending on the directions and amplitudes of the electrical fields produced. With such a switch, it is necessary to have high precision with regard to the voltages to be applied to the electrodes and the length of the two parallel guided zones. Correlatively, as the optical properties of the material in which the guides are produced are dependent on the wavelength used, the conditions relative to the coupling length and the control voltages cannot be respected in a wide range of wavelengths. The same applies with regard to the polarization of the guided radiation.